The conspiracy theory is very far-fetched. Much easier to believe that Madley is an incompetent ref who should not be allowed near a football pitch. He made a ludicrous decision when he booked Jimmy Mac in the 'Boro match and his performance in the Burnley match was totally inept. His mistake in the 'Boro match did not cost us, but those in the Burnley match certainly did - and could even send us down.

If you firmly believe I am a "Troll", I would re-consider whether your judgement is sound on this matter.I can assure you I am NOT a 'Troll' in any shape or form - just a supporter of our club since the 60s and giving you my honest opinions on HOL.

You mention "Highlights" - All I have seen has been the Zaha penalty incident and goals which if I am NOT mistaken appeared on 'Goals On Sunday'.Ive certainly NOT seen the Zaha 'Offside' incident apart from on a photograph.

Regards the photo, I would dearly like to see the incident in motion so that I can try and offer an explanation as to quite why the Assistant flagged for offside.If anybody could provide a video clip I would be delighted.Many Thanks.

At the end of the day, referees and assistants err in high-pressure situations and we shouldn't expect anything else.I have stated this umpteen times but somehow my detractors continue with the mantra that I never admit that officials get it wrong from time to time.

Edited by Willo (02 May 2017 12.49pm)

Willo. I was sitting in the main stand on saturday and it was quite obvious to me and the people beside me wilf was onside. I understand running the line is tough, ive done it and its challenging, but thats a simple decision to make and he guessed.

The link shows the full highlights but click a bit in and you can see the burnley last man is panicking so quickly runs forward

[Link]

I don't think there's a conspiracy against particular clubs but there is institutionalised favouritism which was described very well by someone higher up on this thread, and which was characterised by Clattenburg's chumminess with Sir Alex Ferguson just before the cup final followed by his abysmal and clearly partial performance; and there is also a vested interest in keeping the league exciting for as long as possible which I am not convinced the media moguls are above trying to exploit. We are not directly discriminated against, more collateral damage.

Don't get me wrong, if we're still too exhausted to go and beat 10 man Burnley from that position then the fault lays entirely on the team but I can't see how you can claim to be a fan but be looking to defend the Officials in every situation, when the team could now be safe in the Premier League if that decision was called correctly.

Just one small point of order: we're all working on the assumption that, sans offside flag, Madley would've sent off Heaton for the challenge on Zaha. On the basis that he got so much wrong during the game, I am about 50/50 on him bottling it and giving a yellow.

We'd still have a 10-page "Willo thread" going, but it would've been about whether the nearby defender could be classified as providing cover or not (he wasn't).